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Re: [xmca] ning

Other than the instructor and administrator, I think I would call this "almost totally encapsulated," Mike. There are NING folks that were our back up when we had problems, for example, who had access to the site. Is this what you are referring to in relation to IRB?
One issue that did surface was that teacher candidates wanted to post videos of themselves working with small groups of students or teaching. Sometimes these videos were made in school, and the teacher education office consents had already been negotiated. The camera is supposed to remain on the teacher candidate. Other times, the videos were made more informally in after school programs and tutoring groups. We decided not to allow this, simply because we couldn't control how the videos were created. We knew that the videos created with consent would be included in e-portfolios that teacher candidates were allowed to share publicly later. We did allow them to share videos of themselves, the more social, community building side of this process. Not everyone did, but some students did.
Overall, the teacher candidates managed themselves well, and considered this to be a professional site for social networking. I was surprised, however, when a teacher candidate used a photo taken of a woman's back, bathing suit on, on a nude beach of a male nude in the distance as her icon (I think the student was female, I can't quite remember). I asked that it be removed asap, and it was.
Perhaps, more of an issue are the issues of etiquette and respect as well. There is potential for inappropriate comments, bullying even, I am sure. So far we haven't found any instances of these other than the photo I mentioned.
Let me know what you think. Have other folks met with any issues around IRB or etiquette? 

Best - jennifer




I can see the educational uses for college courses which are not the object
of research. I am raising the question about use of purposes of research
because this is where IRB issues arise. We have been avoiding googlegroups,
facebook, etc., for IRB reasons. Glynda Hull's use of a special
facebook-like medium that is totally incapsulated is a response to these
concerns. They may not be a problem in many places or for many purposes. i
am being cautious.
mike

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Jennifer Vadeboncoeur <
vadebonc@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote:



 Hi Folks,

 We use NING in two large courses in the teacher education program, one for
 elementary and one for secondary teacher candidates. There are approximately
 280-320 students in each course. They meet in a large lecture hall for one
 hour of lecture, followed by two hours of discussion in "small" break-out
 groups of about 30-34 teacher candidates.

 We use NING for several purposes: 1) to post writing assignments, for
 example responses to weekly inquiry questions, 2) to enable additional

 > conversation outside of class, 3) to communicate general information across
 > all sections of the course, 4) and most important, to build community among

 the teacher candidates and with the instructors. We use the "forum," rather
 than the blog, and create weekly forums to organize postings.

 I am interested in the extent to which this technology, coupled with the
 course structure, enables continued professional relationships once teacher
 candidates complete their degree/certification and begin their first
 teaching positions. Many of our teacher candidates teach across Canada and
 the US, and internationally as well.

 While NING is quite like other social networking sites, when we began using
 it several years ago it was the only one that allowed us to form closed
 community groups that were protected by an administrator function that
 allowed us control over who could enter. We did not want to use a completely
 open site. Teacher candidates can post pictures, videos, their teaching
 activities and professional contributions, and have conversations that we

 > did not want to give public access to. We have continued to use it because

 it also allows us to use a French template for the sections of our courses
 that are conducted in French.

 For us, NING is incredibly useful. It is easy to use and continues to
 evolve and offer new options as well. So far, so good.

 Best - jennifer



  Here's one example, although you need to be a member to use it:

 http://www.ncte.org/community

 Peter Smagorinsky
 Professor of English Education and Program Coordinator
 The University of Georgia
 125 Aderhold Hall
 Athens, GA 30602
 smago@uga.edu
 http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html

 -----Original Message-----
 From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
 Behalf Of Helen Grimmett
 Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 8:17 PM
 To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
 Subject: [xmca] Re: technology for Classroom use

 Hi,

 I've recently heard about something called a "ning", which from what I
 can gather seems to be a way to set up your own small scale networking
 site (like a mini facebook) for your own circle of users. It seems to me
 this might be an ideal way for classrooms (or groups of classrooms or
 teachers) to explore this technology and be able to share their work
 without worrying about what else they might come into contact with on
 facebook, myspace or youtube etc.

 I haven't investigated it fully yet, but am wondering if it might be the
 sort of thing that will be useful for my research project on
 professional learning. Perhaps someone else has some more infromation
 about nings?

 Helen Grimmett

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 --
 ______________________________

 Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor
 The University of British Columbia
 Faculty of Education
 2125 Main Mall
 Library Block 272B
 Vancouver BC V6T-1Z4

 phone: 1.604.822.9099
 fax: 1.604.822.3302


 _______________________________________________
 xmca mailing list
 xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
 http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca


_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
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--
______________________________

Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
The University of British Columbia
Faculty of Education
2125 Main Mall
Library Block 272B
Vancouver BC V6T-1Z4

phone: 1.604.822.9099
fax: 1.604.822.3302

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xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca